Saturday, December 19, 2015

Ride to check out the "Vicksburg Arrow"

Yesterday we took a ride to see the "Vicksburg Arrow".

During WW11 General George Patton was charged with training solders and airmen in the desert of the south west. Around Quartzsite, AZ there are remnants of some of their camps and aircraft navigation aids of which the Vicksburg Arrow is only one.
Yesterday we went out to the desert to find this one.

We headed east on I-10 and turned off onto Hwy. 60 and continued east to the town of Brenda. Here we turned north on Perry Lane. We continued north towards the mountains. The trail wanders around on the flats and passes rugged rocky hills.

Eventually we came to Stagecoach Road and followed it north.

After a few miles we noticed a fenced in area just east of the trail. We pulled in here to check out the Vicksburg Arrow. The word Vicksburg is spelled out in rocks with a circle and an arrow pointing toward the town of Vicksburg and the number 12.

We don't know if the 12 means that it is 12 miles to Vicksburg or if this the 12th of these navigation aids. The one near Quartzsite has the number 11 at the end of the arrow.

After checking the arrow out we headed back the way we came to a crossroad that goes west into a beautiful canyon where we planned to have lunch. This dead Saguaro is our land mark to find the turnoff.

Most of the trail is pretty easy until you get close to the end where it goes through a narrow wash.

At the end of the trail is where we had lunch and enjoyed the scenery.

After lunch we retraced our tracks and once again drove by the Arrow to the trail that goes west around the end of these mountains and headed for home. On the way we stopped at the Southern Cross Mine. This mine was pretty extensive in its day but there isn't much left except some concrete slabs.

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Welcome to my blog.

My name is Marty.

My wife Patti and I are dirt road junkies. We live in Quartzsite Arizona in our motor home in the winter and love traveling around the desert in our jeep. We also have a couple of kayaks and enjoy flat water paddling.
Much of the Photography on this blog is Patti's.

In the summer we divide out time between traveling around the west and spending time at the cabin I built in the Northern California forest or working on projects at our home in Santa Rosa.

I occasionaly take a stab at writing fiction. You can read my latest effort "The Virgin Prince" by clicking on the links below.